ok back
calmly upon all the incidents which were then so terrifying.

We had eaten the last crumb of our corn bread in the morning, without
appeasing the hunger which assailed us, and now could only chew the twigs
of the bushes, striving to make ourselves believe we extracted nourishment
therefrom.

More than once straggling soldiers or Indians passed near where we were
hidden; but no one thought of searching the thicket for those who were
friendly to the garrison, because none save idiots like ourselves would
thus have ventured into the lion's mouth.

Screened as we were from the lightest breath of wind, it was cruelly hot
in that hiding-place. Tiny streams of perspiration ran down my face,
wetting the leaves beneath my head, and I chewed them in the vain hope
that the suspicion of moisture might serve to quench my thirst.

I rejoiced when the sun began to sink in the west, even though it was, as
I believed, bringing the hour of my death so much the nearer; but I soon
came to understand that Sergeant Corney was not disposed to make the
perilous venture without first having taken all possible precautions for
our safety.

When the day was within an hour of its close, I suddenly became aware that
the old soldier was stripping the fringe from his shirt, and immediately I
sat bolt upright, fancying for the moment that he had lost his reason.

"What are you doin'?" I asked, sharply, and he replied, with a faint
smile:

"If the sentinel who stands on the wall of the fort facin' us is 'tendin'
to his business as a soldier should, then there's a chance I can let him
know these 'ere bushes shelter decent people."

While speaking he had been cutting cautiously with his knife one of the
longer branches which helped to screen us from view, and when it had been
severed he trimmed it with infinite care, as if our welfare depended upon
its being smooth and clean.

When this had been done to his satisfaction, and it seemed to give him
greatest pleasure to keep me in suspense as to his purpose, he tied to the
smaller end of the stick the fringe from his shirt.

"You're goin' to creep out an' wave that!" I cried, in the tone of one who
has made a great discovery.

"You can set it down as a fact that I won't creep very far out," the old
man replied, with a smile. "It's only the ghost of a chance that anybody
will take heed of it, an' yet there's no harm in the tryin'."

When finally he crept cautiously out toward the edge of